Leaving the Nightmare Behind
by Samuel Brooks
Summary: One-Shot. Chell wakes up outside the Enrichment Center and searches for help.


The first thing Chell felt was the warm sun on her skin. She had been a prisoner in that facility for so long, she had forgotten what the sun felt like. Slowly, she opened her eyes. All around her was the remains of her captor. GLaDOS' pieces were still smoking, having been blown out from underground just a few minutes ago. Chell had been caught in the same explosion. It was a miracle she hadn't been killed instantly.

Chell knew she had been injured, though. She had remembered the heat of the explosion searing her flesh; the debris swirling around her beating her to a pulp as she was thrown through the air; impact after impact shattering bone and limb. Chell wondered why she wasn't in excruciating pain. Perhaps her body was still in shock? Or her ability to perceive pain was numbed by adrenaline?

Chell looked down at her body and gasped. She didn't have a scratch on her body. Her Aperture Science Jumpsuit was all but torn to shreds, but her body underneath it was unharmed. Chell thought of the several instances in the facility when the turrets riddled her with bullets. She had survived the barrages, and had healed within seconds. At the time, she hadn't considered why she kept healing from those would-be fatal injuries. But now her mind raced, wondering just what sort of other experiments those whacko scientists had performed on her.

Sitting up, Chell further examined her surroundings. Behind her was the colossal ruin of the Enrichment Center. While the test chambers within had offered only subtle hints that the place was derelict, the exterior boldly declared it. Windows were shattered, sections of wall were missing, the roof even caved in near one of the corners. Chell was sitting in what appeared to be a parking lot in front of the building. A steel mesh fence bordered the parking lot, though it was equally dilapidated, and the gate at the entrance of the parking lot hung open.

Beyond the gate was a simple, two-lane road, flanked on both sides by trees. It seemed that Aperture Science built the Enrichment Center in the middle of a forest. Chell couldn't see far down the road before it turned. She honestly hadn't the slightest clue where she was.

Chell stood up, and turned to the remains of GLaDOS. This thing had enslaved her, and damn near killed her over and over again to test out that device. Where the portal gun was now, Chell couldn't be certain. It had slipped from her hands in the explosion, and was no where to be seen now. Chell glared down at one of spheres that had been a part of GLaDOS' massive core. Chell had blown most of them off and incinerated them, but this one was still attached to a large hunk of debris.

With as much power as she could muster, Chell stomped her foot down on the glass "eye" of the sphere. It shattered, and her foot continued until she could hear all the components within being crushed. She pulled her foot out and shook off the shards of broken glass stuck in her skin. The scrapes and cuts closed up instantly. Chell had had enough of this Hell-hole; she was leaving.

Without hesitation, she set off down the road. It was clearly log-abandoned, strewn with leaves and broken up by pot holes and cracks in the asphalt where tufts of grass occasionally poked through. The first curve in the road was a couple hundred feet from the gate and, turning it, Chell discovered the next turn not much further than that. It was a long, winding path, but Chell was ready to travel as far as she needed to reach civilization.

She had been walking for about ten minutes when she heard the first sounds in the woods. To her left, a few twigs on the ground somewhere cracked as something stepped on them. To her right, a faint rustling, as if something was pushing it's way through a bush. Chell heard the noises, but assured herself that they were probably just deer or something. After all that she'd been through, it would be ridiculous to be killed by some random animal attack.

A couple minutes later, Chell heard a low growl. Stopping right where she was, she darted her head from the left side of the road to the right. Where had that come from? It was impossible to tell for sure. Her heart now pumping a little faster, Chell resumed walking, slightly faster. She had to be sure not to run, lest she panic and be unable to slow down until she collapsed of exhaustion. Still, she listened carefully to the sounds in the woods, keeping her eyes peeled for the slightest movement.

Yet again, something growled. This time, Chell knew it had come from the left. Oh God, it was just a few feet from the road, hidden in the bushes. Chell was frozen on the spot, silently begging it to go away, yet desperate to see what it was. She stared directly at the source of the sound, waiting for the thing to emerge. Suddenly, a couple of the bushes burst into movement. Not where Chell was looking, but about 30 feet back down the road.

Chell turned to the movement, breath stuck in her throat. A few of tiny green leaves were drifting to the ground from the disturbed bush's branches. More alarming, the leaves littering the road in the same spot were also settling back into place. Something had run across the road 30 feet away from her; something big.

What had GLaDOS said? That the world had changed? That there was something dangerous outside the Enrichment Center? That she, GLaDOS, was the only thing standing between Chell and "them"? Chell felt like she was on the verge of panic. Why had she left the Enrichment Center in such a hurry?

Staring at the woods blankly, Chell suddenly heard a grunt behind her. There was something on the road, feet from her back. Her heart pounding, Chell turned around slowly and faced it.

It stood five and a half feet tall. It had a human body, and even wore tattered clothes. But this thing was nowhere near human. Its hands were split apart, forming long hideous fingers. It had a huge hole in its torso, which exposed its internal organs. The hole was lined with what looked like teeth. Most notable was the fleshy, spider-like creature attached to its head, obscuring its face. It growled menacingly like an animal, but it also was letting out a very human cry of agony.

Chell screamed as the thing lurched forward, arms outstretched towards her. She turned around dashed into the trees, leaving the creature behind on the road. She stumbled over roots and logs, caring more about escaping that monster than about staying near the road. She was only seconds into the forest when another of the creatures, just like the first, burst out to her left.

The creature grabbed her shoulder, but she squirmed free without breaking her stride, sending the creature tumbling to the ground. The attack had thrown her off balance and she almost ran into a tree. She pushed past it and kept running. Another one of the terrible shrieks sounded behind her. This one was different from the others, though. Chell looked over her shoulder to see she was being pursued by something different than the beast she'd seen on the road, or the one in the trees.

This one also had a human body, and it also had a strange spider-like creature limply attached to its head. But this creature was jet black, sleek, and fast. Oh God, it was fast. Chell tried her best to run even faster, but she was already losing her breath, and was struggling to maintain her footing on the uneven ground. With every panting breath, she heard this new creature's vile hissing drawing closer.

Chell darted back and forth amongst the trees. She took quick, tight turns, hoping to throw off her pursuer. But this creature was far more agile than her. She knew that, by now, it was inches behind her. In seconds it would have her, and then God knows what it would do.

Chell screamed suddenly; not because the creature had grabbed her as she had expected, but because the ground below her had disappeared. She had run right over the edge of a slope. Chell tumbled head over heels, rolling uncontrollably. She fell over twigs and small, sharp rocks, giving her a variety of cuts and bruises. After what seemed like several minutes, but was really just seconds, she came to a stop on a slab of rock at the bottom.

Chell lay there, whimpering. Every part of her body ached. The rock she was laying on smooth and hard. It felt almost like the asphalt she had woken up just 20 minutes ago. For a desperate moment, Chell hoped she really was back on the asphalt. That everything that had just happened was a nightmare. That maybe she had been hit a bit hard on the head and was hallucinating. But when she opened her eyes, she was still surrounded by trees.

She sat up and looked up the slope she had fallen down. That terrifyingly fast creature was gone. Chell didn't care where it was, as long as it wasn't chasing her anymore. Somewhere far off in the forest she heard a growling roar. As if in response, a loud shriek came from the other direction. How many of these things were there?

Chell got to her feet, and walked away from the rock at a brisk pace. The trees began again about ten feet from the bottom of the slope. Chell didn't like to be out in the open where one of those creatures could see her from any direction. Reaching the trees, she sat down by a tree trunk, shielded from sight by a bush. Catching her breath, she decided to try and work out a plan. She couldn't go back to the road the same way she came, but she had to get back to the Enrichment Center. With GLaDOS gone, she might be safe there, at least for a while. Chell looked around, trying to figure out roughly which direction the Center was in.

As she was realizing that she honestly had no clue, a leaf landed on her shoulder. Looking at it curiously, she wondered what had shaken it loose. She looked upwards, expecting to see a bird or squirrel or something.

About 20 feet up the tree trunk, and slowly crawling downwards towards her, was one of the spider-things that were on the heads of those monsters. It was only about a foot long, but with its weird, eyeless "face", and the creepy clicking noises it was making, it was just as scary. Chell screamed as the creature leapt towards her without warning. Before Chell had any hope of running away, it had landed on her head.

Chell screamed and screamed as she struggled with the thing. She knew without a doubt what would happen if it attached itself to her. She didn't want to die, but if all hope was lost, she could accept it. What she couldn't accept was becoming one of those things. She grabbed the spider-creature by the legs and desperately tried to pull it off.

The last thing Chell felt was the creature's teeth cutting through her skull and into her brain.


End file.
